Hello all! I am happy to have found this useful forum. I'm hoping I may get help regarding this topic.....how do children that have been home schooled receive a valid, legal high school diploma? I live in New Jersey. Thanks for any and all help!!

What do you mean by a legal diploma, exactly? Homeschoolers usually just "award" themselves a diploma upon completing the high school graduation requirements for their state to their own satisfaction, then prove competency to prospective colleges through a combination of homework portfolio (for less important subjects) and nationally standardized test scores (for core subjects). An official, accredited diploma is largely superfluous, especially considering that you'd want your children to take the standardized tests anyway in hopes of getting additional college credit.

If you still want official diplomas for your children, you'll need to enroll them in an accredited school or portfolio review service that can verify they've completed all the high school graduation requirements.

If all you want is a legal graduation, then don't worry about it. Complete the work at home, and attend a graduation ceremony at one of the homeschool groups in your area.

dianegrill wrote:Hello all! I am happy to have found this useful forum. I'm hoping I may get help regarding this topic.....how do children that have been home schooled receive a valid, legal high school diploma? I live in New Jersey. Thanks for any and all help!!

When the children have finished their education at home to their parents' satisfaction, the parents award diplomas. These diplomas are just as "valid" and "legal" as the diplomas given by schools, and way more meaningful, anyway.

Pennsylvania is the only state that has requirements for homeschooled students to earn a state-approved diploma, and even that is an option. Otherwise, the parents and children decide what will be required for the dc to be graduated; that can be anything from following the requirements of the local public school to what the dc's prospective colleges want to merely have achieving a specific age, such as 16 or 18. You get to decide.